2016 Brussels bombings

The 2016 Brussels bombings took place on 22 March 2016 when two Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Brussels Airport and one at the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels, Belgium. 28 were killed in the attacks and 136 wounded, which occurred just four days after November 2015 Paris attacks perpetrator Salah Abdeslam was captured by Belgian authorities.

Prelude
The Brussels suburb of Molenbeek was a major base for jihadists in Western Europe, and it was said to have been the location of the planning of the November 2015 Paris attacks by Brahim Abdeslam, Salah Abdeslam, and Abdelhamid Abaaoud. On 18 March 2016, Belgian authorities captured Salah Abdeslam in a police raid on his apartment, and he told them that he had been planning more attacks while there. Soon after, Russia's FSB warned Belgium that three Islamic State members had entered the country, but Belgium failed to pick up on the warnings. As a result, they were able to gain the element of surprise against the government.

Attacks
At 8:00 AM on 22 March 2016, a suicide bomber headed to the check-in counters of Brussels Airlines and American Airlines, not far from the departures hall. Soon after, another bomber detonated explosives near a Starbucks café in the airport. 13 people were killed at the airport and 81 wounded; at 9:11 AM, a third suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the Maalbeek metro station while the train was travelling to Schuman Station, and 15 were killed there and 55 wounded. A total of 28 people were killed and 136 injured in the heinous attacks.

Aftermath
In the aftermath of the attacks, the Brussels metro and important buildings were evacuated and closed down; taxis provided their services for free due to the metro being closed down. France closed its border with Belgium, and the Netherlands increased police presence along their southern border with Belgium. Two suspects were arrested by the Belgian government soon after the attacks, and the terror alert in the country was again raised to its highest level, repeating the 2015-16 state of lockdown in the capital following the Paris attackers. The attacks came not long after the March 2016 Ankara bombing, another ISIS attack.